Even After Court Victory, Brendan Sorsby Opts Against Final College Football Season
College quarterback banned for gambling calls audible after Big 12 files its own lawsuit
So, the temporary injunction Brendan Sorsby received in a Texas court last week to play college football this fall ended up becoming nothing but a Pyrrhic victory for the talented and controversial quarterback.
Just seven days after a judge ruled in his favor, allowing him to play football for Texas Tech and just serve a two-game suspension for breaking NCAA rules related to gambling, Sorsby announced instead he would forego his final collegiate season and enter the NFL’s supplemental draft.
The NFL always remained an option for Sorsby, who took the NCAA to court after it denied Texas Tech’s request to reinstate him and deemed the quarterback permanently ineligible. That said, how much interest will pro teams express in drafting a quarterback who made dozens of bets on his own team when he played for Indiana, as well as $9,000 in wagers on other college football games while at IU and Cincinnati?
Regardless of that answer, going pro still became Sorsby’s best choice, even after Judge Ken Curry granted his request for an injunction.
Big 12, Other Schools Force Sorsby
Texas Tech’s athletic teams became outcasts almost immediately after Curry’s ruling. Athletic directors announced they would not let their schools’ teams play the Red Raiders in anything, not just football shortly after Sorsby became eligible to play this fall.
Even Tech’s colleagues in the Big 12 Conference raised concerns about the implications of Sorsby playing. Keep in mind, just a couple years ago, the NCAA permanently banned then-Iowa State quarterback Hunter Dekkers for similar behavior. Investigators found he bet on the Cyclones, another Big 12 team, while a redshirt freshman on the team.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that a Texas court gave Sorsby an injunction, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton threatened legal action against the conference if it were to punish the Red Raiders for letting Sorsby play. On Sunday, the conference beat Paxton to the punch, filing a federal lawsuit against him, Texas Tech officials, and the school itself.
“The Big 12 and its Member Institutions (apparently save TTU) have no interest in being required to endorse or even appearing to endorse unethical and indeed unlawful conduct that strikes at the heart of athletic integrity,” the conference stated in its complaint.
A day after the Big 12 took Texas Tech to court, Sorsby announced he would go pro.
NCAA Dodges Bullet
With Sorsby ending his collegiate career, the genie is back in the bottle. For now.
However, this case shows what can happen should an athlete looking to escape NCAA sanctions find a sympathetic judge. Previously, judges across the country have allowed student-athletes to extend their eligibility. That was bad enough, but had Sorsby stayed and played at Texas Tech, it would have severely, and perhaps irrevocably, undermined the NCAA’s authority to oversee major college athletics.
NCAA President Charlie Baker used the Sorsby case to demonstrate why it needs help from Washington to preserve its oversight authority.
“When you have schools and deep-pocketed supporters willing to look the other way on the glaring integrity threat of betting on your own team – and judges whose rulings effectively strip away our ability to stop them – only Congress can equip the @NCAA to apply this common sense rule to everyone fairly and consistently,” Baker posted on his X account last week. “The Protect College Sports Act would empower the NCAA to enforce rules, including the gambling restrictions – it’s needed now more than ever.”
Until that happens, and it’s not necessarily a guarantee that Congress passes that bill anytime soon, it will be up to the schools and conferences to apply peer pressure and, if necessary, file their own lawsuits to ensure any student-athlete who breaks the NCAA’s rules on gambling stays on the sidelines.
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